CHICAGO – Brewers general manager David Stearns and manager Craig Counsell both said Saturday they have a difficult decision to make on adding left-hander Wade Miley to the pitching staff.

But, when you look at Miley’s performance Friday night for Class AA Biloxi, the decision likely was made much easier.

In his third and final minor-league rehab outing, Miley dominated Birmhingham with six scoreless innings, allowing only two hits while logging 11 strikeouts.

“I think Wade threw the ball well,” Stearns said. “It sounds like he had good fastball command; the velocity was back a little bit to what we saw in spring training. I know he felt good after the outing, and that’s a good sign.”

Miley had the starting rotation all but made in spring camp before suffering a groin injury the last week. The Brewers paid him a $100,000 retention bonus to remain in the organization and rehab the injury and now must make a decision by the end of the day Sunday or allow him to be a free agent.

“We’ve got a decision to make,” said Stearns, who had additional evaluators watch Miley. “We’re going to talk about it over the next 24-48 hours and we’ll go from there. Look, Wade did his job. He’s healthy and pitching well. We’ve also got some guys here who are pitching pretty well.

“The good news is our starting group has come through very nicely. Having difficult decisions like this is a good thing.”

The most vulnerable starter in the rotation appears to be lefty Brent Suter, who is 1-2 with a 5.34 ERA in six outings. Suter allowed two runs in the first inning Friday against the Cubs but then threw shutout ball over the next four frames.

The Brewers could put Miley in the rotation, move Suter to the bullpen, where he has pitched in the past, and return right-hander Brandon Woodruff to Class AAA Colorado Springs.

Knebel moving forward: Closer Corey Knebel threw his third bullpen session Friday since going on the DL with a hamstring strain during the first home stand and was excited about his progress. Knebel is scheduled to throw another bullpen while the team is in Cincinnati and said he should be able to go out on minor-league rehab afterward but Stearns pumped the brakes a bit on that schedule.

“I know he’s very excited about where he is right now,” Stearns said. “I think Corey would like one more good mound session and then a rehab. We’ll see how he feels after that mound session and see what our medical staff says and go from there.

“You guys hear me say it all the time, but the key is, when these guys get back, we want them to be healthy. We don’t want setbacks. And with a hamstring injury, we’re going to be pretty cautious.”

Thames surgery successful: First baseman Eric Thames' recovery from a torn ligament in his left thumb officially began Friday when he had surgery performed by hand specialist Don Sheridan in Phoenix. Thames is expected to be out of action 6-8 weeks.

"I think Dr. Sheridan was pretty pleased with how it went," Stearns said. "Now, it’s rehab time for Eric. That’s a challenging time for a player, but I know he’s going to go at it full-force.

"I know Eric is going to push to get back as soon as he possibly can, but we’ll see how the rehab goes. The key for when Eric comes back is for him to be completely healthy."